‘She Is Very Creative’: New Canaan Woman To Open Hair Salon on Cherry Street

A New Canaan woman and former manager of a hair salon in town is poised to open up her own place on Cherry Street at month’s end. Jul Qela said ‘Jul’s Salon’ will mark the first time she’s started her own business, and that after some interior work such as painting, the space at 123 Cherry St. should open March1. “I am feeling very excited,” Qela told NewCanananite.com on a recent afternoon. “This is the best thing.”

The manager of Hairquarters West for more than two years, Qela signed a lease on Monday and said Jul’s Salon will include six hairdressing chairs and an experienced, professional staff that’s already been hired.

‘Salon 5 East’ To Replace Hairquarters West, Closed After 40-Plus Years

Toni Esposito had joined the staff Hairquarters West in 1992, when the longtime New Canaan business was located up the staircase alongside the former Post Office building on Pine Street. Ten years ago, Esposito opened her own place, Cherry Street Salon, which has been so successful that the 1986 Westhill High School graduate been looking for a bigger space to accommodate increased demand for hair and other services. On Monday, Esposito will move her staff into the East Avenue commercial space that Hairquarters West has occupied for the past two years, since Mrs. Green’s took over the entire building at 2 Pine St. The new salon, to be called ‘Salon 5 East’ (it’s at 5 East Ave.) will see Esposito’s 5-stylist staff move up the hill, and she’ll retain three stylists from Hairquarters West (yes, including Jose), which is closing, while expanding her offerings to include manicures, pedicures, waxing, facials and massages. “My clients are so excited because now they can have a manicure, have a pedicure while they’re sitting with color,” Esposito said from the deceivingly expansive floor at 5 East Ave.

Cherry Street Hair Salon Divaz Expanding into Commercial Space Next Door

A Cherry Street hair salon is expanding into a commercial space next door, according to a building permit application filed last week with the town. Divaz Salon, which currently stands at 1,144 square feet, will break through a wall and take over the 761 square feet now occupied by The Nail Retreat, under an application filed Jan. 22. A worker at The Nail Retreat told NewCanaanite.com that the business, here in town for some 29 years, will continue at Hairquarters West on East Avenue. The nail salon’s last day on Cherry Street would be Friday, Jan.